BREXIT has largely dominated parliament this week however, there have been a few stories that may have been missed. #Boris Johnson's gaffe could be and most likely be very costly to the UK, the #British Medical Journal released a study underlining the amount of deaths directly linked to Conservative austerity since 2010, Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, has announced he will step down and we look ahead to Philip Hammond's Budget.

The world has seen a coup against Robert Mugabe inn Zimbabwe, Australia voted in a non-binding referendum over gay marriage, Russia accused of influencing Brexit, Norway begin divesting away from oil and the Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, headed to France.

UK news

Boris Johnson has likely cost the UK £450 million along with other concessions with Iran because of the remarks he made over imprisoned mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Both him and Chancellor Philip Hammond have reportedly authorised a payment of £450 million to Iran to settle a 38-year long disputer over a tank deal, which saw the UK government keep Iran's money after pulling out of the deal to sell them tanks. The government have claimed that the settlement of the dispute is a separate issue to the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case.

The British Medical Journal published a study by researchers from Oxford, Cambridge and UCL, have estimated that 120,000 deaths are directly linked to Conservative austerity measures since 2010. Current estimates suggest that if the trend is to continue, 200,000 excess deaths will occur by 2020.

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The study states that the critical factor behind these unnecessary deaths was a huge lack of both NHS and care home nurses and that if the government fail to act now, 100 people will die unnecessarily every day.

Gerry Adams has announced that he is to step down as president of Sinn Féin after 34 years in charge. He played a pivotal role in the IRA ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement that saw the republicans and unionists enter a power sharing agreement. He stated that him and Martin McGuinness saw a need for new leadership in the party. Parliament this week saw the beginning of the Brexit Bill amendments begin their process through the Commons, this has already seen some controversial amendments being voted down by the government, read more here.

World news

The Army of Zimbabwe seized power from Robert Mugabe after soldiers took control of government buildings and state television. Though they claimed it was to target criminals around Mugabe, but the move follows Mugabe's firing of Vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, which cleared the way for his wife, Grace, to succeed him.

The move raises concerns that the dictator will be replaced by Mnangagwa, who is known as the crocodile, which would mean a step from one dictator to another.

Australia voted in favour of same-sex marriage, the non-binding postal survey which confirmed what every opinion poll had already said, saw 61.6% of a 79.5% turnout vote in favour of legalising same-sex marriage. The PM, Malcolm Turnbull has said that it could be enshrined into law by Christmas, but the survey is estimated to cost A$122m ($93) just to appease their Conservative coalition partners.

Russia have been yet again accused of using social media to influence foreign votes. It has now been alleged that they have meddle in the UK's Brexit vote and Catalonia's referendum on independence. However, a lot of the online trolls used by Russia have been found to have been most active in the 4 days after the Brexit referendum, which means they are using the internet to divide nations internally.

Norway have proposed to divest its $1 trillion wealth fund away from oil, potentially selling £40 billion worth of shares in firms like Exxon Mobil and Shell to reduce the risk of exposure of a fall in the price of oil, this accounts of much of the capital fund. The move will have to be approved by the government and parliament but is seen as a positive move by economists and green campaigners.

Saad Hariri, Lebanon's prime minister, travelled to France on Saturday following accusations he was being held against his will in Saudi Arabia. Lebanon's president accuses Saudi Arabia of having forced Mr Hariri to resign, for having co-operated with Hizbullah, Iran's proxy; the Saudis deny it. They do not however want him to return to Lebanon, where he has been challenged to submit his resignation in person. #Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe

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